


life is strange (but it's all we've got)

by worry



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek (Comics)
Genre: Backstory, M/M, Road Trips, inaccurate depictions of alien hiveminds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-20
Updated: 2017-04-20
Packaged: 2018-10-21 23:18:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10684950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/worry/pseuds/worry
Summary: “I just don’t want you to be sad, okay?” Shev says, a bit clenched. “I didn’t intend for that to come out so mean. Sorry, Vel. I just think we both deserve good, safe families.”A pause.“You are like my family, Shev.”He says nothing in response, thinks only: I don’t want to be your family at all. I want - something different.(Or: the Los Angeles road trip.)





	life is strange (but it's all we've got)

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this to help alleviate writer's block, so it might not be good [shrugs]

i.

 

His family makes sure that no one speaks of the incident on the USS Kelvin, but they underestimate Vel’s deterimination; at age nine he realies that Alnschloss and the other Monchezkins are keeping secrets from him---specifically hard to do as a species with a hivemind---and at thirteen he stumbles upon the knowledge, learns that his father narrowly escaped the USS Kelvin as it died. Many of Alnschloss’ friends perished in the crash; every time Vel had mentioned Starfleet and his dreams, Alnschloss and his mother quieted him, but one day Vel knows he will be assigned to a starship and break their silence by thriving. Rising. The Kelvin, he decides, was merely an isolated incident. At thirteen, the world, to you, is beautiful and everyone’s intentions are completely pure, and at thirteen you never think about dying in a starship, never escaping like your father did, fate just too thin.

 

Starfleet officers are expected to give everything to their captain and crew. They are expected to do whatever it takes to protect, even if that involves sacrificing. So he sets his emphasis on helping others; maybe, he thinks, if he becomes a medical offer in these dreams, he can help the injured, and there will never be pain on starships ever again.

 

It is an intricate dream.

 

ii.

 

Ten years later he saves the life of an Andorian boy. His  _ friend. _

 

“You know, Vel,” Shev says, hands wrapping around the steering wheel of their car, “I’m actually so glad that I participated in the Centennial, even if I  _ did  _ fail the combat simulaton miserably.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Because I met you,” he replies, stopping immediately after the words leave his mouth like it should be stitched up tight, saving Shev from sentimentalities. “And the recognition we got when it was done was great, too,” he adds. “Really showed my dad.”

 

There’s a red light. “Is your family proud of you?” Vel asks, because everyone should be proud of Shev. He puts the sun in the brightest sky, makes sure it doesn’t beat down too much on his skin. None of the others see this in him. Pity. 

 

“Not really,” Shev sighs. “I pretty much failed them the moment I sent in my Academy application, and now my dad is… basically, what happened didn’t mean much to him.”

 

“I am sorry.”

 

“It’s fine, I’m a big boy. I never really needed them anyway.”

 

The car starts back up again and the sun sets in the sky, slow and slow.

 

“My family did not want me to join Starfleet, either. For a different reason, but I understand what it feels like to disappoint your family.”

 

Shev glances at him. “Why not? Can’t imagine you ever being a disappointment.”

 

“My father almost died on a Starfleet vessel,” Vel says. “No one wanted that to happen to me.”

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

“Why are you sorry?”

 

“Because your father nearly  _ died,  _ Vel.”

 

“Oh,” Vel says. “But he did not die.”

 

“I just don’t want you to be sad,  _ okay? _ ” Shev says, a bit clenched. “I didn’t intend for that to come out so mean. Sorry, Vel. I just think we both deserve good,  _ safe  _ families.”

 

A pause.

 

“You are like my family, Shev.”

 

He says nothing in response, thinks only:  _ I don’t want to be your family at all. I want - something different. _

 

iii.

  
  


“Bet  _ you  _ can’t hit that target as good as I did,” he says, and this is not the correct way to treat others, he knows, but they’re eleven and they make excuses for little little kids. The people who decide morals, that is. Whoever they are. Right from wrong, good from bad. Shev has adhered to the rules, despite the rules being incredibly  _ tiring _ .

 

You do what you have to if you want to get by, if you want to excel in your training. That’s just how it is. 

 

Dreva picks up the dart, throws it with her bony arm. It lands mere centimeters away from Shev’s perfect hit.

 

“ _ Told you, _ ” Shev says. “You’ll get there, Dreva. Don’t freak out.”

 

She hits his shoulder. “You’re just mean ‘cause you  _ like  _ me.”

 

He feels nauseous, thinks for a moment about it: he should like Dreva, that’s the right thing to do, isn’t it? To make his family happy. To continue the honor. But his eyes have always belonged elsewhere.

 

“That’s  _ disgusting, _ ” he says. “I’m gonna throw up.”

 

She growls at him and walks away.

 

He continues throwing the darts. You do what you have to.

 

iv.

 

“We will sleep… in the car?”

 

“Sorry. I checked and every hotel within the next hundred miles is completely booked, and I’m half-asleep. I don’t want us to get in an accident.”

 

‘I will do the driving so you can sleep,” Vel says. He sits up and his head slams into the ceiling of the car, but he only smiles wider and wider at Shev.

 

“You know how to drive, right?” he says through a howl-yawn. “No offense, big guy, but again: I don’t want to get in an accident.”

 

“I am very skilled in driving,” Vel replies. “I learned it during my first year in the Academy.”

 

“Well, okay then.”

 

They switch seats. Shev falls asleep, right into Vel’s lap.

 

v.

 

_ I am submitting my application to Starfleet Academy. _

 

Vel is twenty-one. The rest of the Monchezkins still treat him like a child.

 

_ Vel, withdraw your application.  _ His mother. 

 

_ W i t h d r a w i t.  _ Everyone else, unison.

 

_ I will not withdraw the application. _

 

_ Then you must be careful. _

 

_ I will certainly be careful. _

 

_ When you are accepted you must keep in contact. _

 

_ I will do everything you ask, but remember, I am moving on to greater things. _

 

This is the first time that Vel has heard complete silence from the hivemind. It is not a delightful experience; with their voices gone, he feels empty.

 

Greater things.

 

vi.

  
  


“We are approaching the California border.”

 

“We sure are,” Shev says, and wraps himself around Vel without thought. “This is gonna be so much fun.”

 

“I have come to the conclusion,” Vel says, slowing their vehicle down and reciprocating the hug, “that everything I do with you will be… fun.”

 

Tactile contact is new for both of them.

 

“Thanks,” Shev says, part-whisper. “I feel the same way about you, Vel.”

  
  



End file.
